Secrets
by Satol
Summary: A group of Japanese children suddenly falls in upon a group of adults. Both teams are friendly for the most part , but neither seem to be telling each other everything. Rating may rise.
1. Rendezvous

_So I did something really annoying; I forgot to tell you that a couple chars will be really OoC for a while. That'll fix itself eventually (I hope), so please bear with me. Mostly Japan, though._

_I own nothing~~~_

* * *

Inwardly sighing, the brown-eyed man leaned back in his chair and watched his companions bickering amongst themselves. Two, both blond, argued ceaselessly over one thing or another, be it the attitude of the taller one, the shorter's cooking, or even opinions on the weather. Shaking his head, black locks swung to and fro in front of his face. Himself, the two arguing ones, along with another, quieter blond, a brown-haired man with a ponytail, and the Italian man with a silly grin on his face, with his brother. The group of them had gotten together to just relax and have a day off, but it wasn't going well so far. Hopefully something interesting would happen.

He soon ate those words as a great thud was heard in the corner of the room, where the quiet one had been standing, all but forgotten. At once, everyone stopped their conversations and turned to look at the corner. They each blinked several times, some with mouths agape, to stare.

Where mere moments before, nothing had been (or so they thought), there was now a mound of various children, no older than 15, piled atop each other and shouting angrily in Japanese.

"_What did I say about letting Giannini tune our weapons!"_

"_Don't get cocky with me."_ A loud smack.

"_Everyone, get off of me. Now."_

A laugh, followed by a sharp, _"You-! There's nothing to laugh about!"_

"_Aw, it's okay, isn't it?"_

"_I'd say this is the number one weirdest thing to happen to us yet."_

"_Boss, are you okay?"_

Suddenly, all the noise stopped as one of the children, noticeable by the large brown mess that was his hair, realized the presence of several adults in the room. He squeaked in surprise, and the entire mound grew silent.

That was, until the black-haired boy on the bottom of the dogpile calmly decided that, he had had enough of being crushed, and now felt like fighting. Throwing whoever he could get his hand one bodily at the wall (it happened to be the brown-haired one), the others quickly took the hint and scrambled to get off. Standing up, the black-haired one dusted the non-existent dirt off of his black pants with distain. Then, glancing down at the blond man on the floor (no one had noticed him until now), he huffed, realizing that he had fallen unconscious from being landed on.

A kick to the head, intended to try and relieve the battlelust welling up, quickly changed that.

Immediately sitting up, with no visible signs of damage, the man stared at the other with wide, violet-colored eyes. Then, he began yelling (or rather, loudly whispering), something in English, pointing to his head, then the white bear held in his arms, then his jacket, and then to his attacker. Not understanding, another kick sent the blond back to the floor, along with a third kick for good measure.

Obviously resisting the urge to laugh, one of the other blond ones, the shorter one with messy hair, walked up to his brown-eyed companion and whispered something in his ear. Nodding, he stood up, toying with his jacket collar, and walked over to the children, smiling. _"Hello,"_ he greeted them in flawless Japanese. _"Might I ask who you all are?"_

Strangely, each child exchanged a split-second, sharp glance with another, and seemed to go on the defensive, tensed and wary. Coughing, the messy-haired brunette, leaning against the wall he had been thrown against, answered cautiously. _"... a group of lost kids..."_

"_Well, I can kind of see that, no offense."_

Sighing, the brunette gave the smallest shy smile. _"Er... none taken. M- My name is Tsuna... the others can introduce themselves if they want to."_

"_Tsuna... that's a nice name."_

"_Th- Thank you..."_

"_Ah! Before I forget..."_ Fishing something out of his pants pocket, the older man flicked what looked like a clip to the blond on the floor. The blond caught it, and hastily attached it to his jacket collar, removing a similar one and tossing that back.

"Thanks," he called quietly.

At the sudden change in the blond's language, the black-haired boy stiffened and prepared another kick. _"If you can speak Japanese,"_ he scowled, _"Speak it in the first place!"_

His eyes narrowed as he found that his kick had been blocked by the older raven, who had somehow crossed 7 feet, gotten into a defensive stance, and blocked the kick with his hand in a split-second. Smiling dangerously, the man stood up. _"That's because he _can't_ speak Japanese,"_ he stated ambiguously.

Tsuna, recovering from his collision with the wall, walked over and tugged at the older raven's white T-shirt sleeve. _"What do you mean?"_ he asked, thoroughly confused. _"He just did."_

The man's smile widened the slightest bit. _"He's actually not,"_ came the reply, _"He's using a translator, just like the rest of us."_ Nodding to his companions, they each brushed a hand across their front, to reveal a small clip, attached to a collar, a pocket, or a shirt. _"What you're hearing is whatever he's saying, translated into your own native language. Which reminds me..."_ the man walked back to his chair, where he had a blue bag, not unlike a schoolbag, sitting. Digging through it, he picked out a Ziploc, containing several more clips. Then, he handed the bag to the brunette. _"Here. Each of you should take one; just clip it to your shirt or something."_

"How does this even work?" Tsuna asked.

This time, it was another man, taller, sporting straw-colored hair with a cowlick, blue eyes twinkling cheerfully behind his glasses, that answered. "Finally!" he grinned, elbowing his black-haired companion. "Now I can actually join the conversation."

"I'm surprised that you were able to stay silent for so long," came the reply.

Before any further conversation could be said, the shorter raven cut in sharply, adjusting the black jacket that hung loosely on his shoulders. "The herbivore told you his name," he said, eyes narrowing, "But isn't it common courtesy for you to tell us your name as well?"

A dangerous smile playing on his lips, the older one retorted, "I could say the same for you... but you're also right." Bowing, he quickly shot a glance at the straw-haired one. "Kiku. Kiku Honda."

Catching the look, the straw-haired one clapped Kiku on the back. "Hahaha," he laughed cheerfully, "Kiku~ You're always so formal! I'm Alfred F. Jones! And the 'F' stands for Hamburgers!"

"That doesn't even make sense," the shorter raven growled, "I, Kyouya Hibari, will bite you to death for that." Crouching into a fighting stance, he whipped a pair of metal tonfas out of somewhere. He was about to charge, when Tsuna held him back by the arm.

"Hibari-san!" he whined, "Y- You can't fight in here! You'll break something"

"... Fine." Moodily, Hibari lowered his weapons down to his sides, obviously disappointed at being denied the chance to fight someone.

Surprisingly, Kiku gave a small laugh. "If you want a fight that much," he smiled, mud-brown eyes narrowing the slightest bit, "I'll give you one." A sheathed katana seemed to instantly appear in his hand. Then, he jerked his head toward the large window, facing an open grass lawn. "Outside though; come on, I'll show you all out."


	2. The First Question

Perhaps it was the sunlight, but a certain baseball lover could just swear that he saw a dangerous glea in their guide's eyes. Kiku talked with the kids and modestly told his companions not to hasten his death by looking so confident, but the grip on the katana held in his hand, the small, fleeting smile on his face, told Takeshi Yamamoto that this man was excited for a match, too.

As per usual, Yamamoto was laughing merrily, prompting angry shouts and stares from Hayato Gokudera. "Hey, Gokudera!" he said, grabbing the silver-haired boy by the wrist and pulling him toward the adults. "Let's go introduce ourselves!"

Of course, Gokudera promptly expressed his displeasure. "Baseball idiot!" he seethed, "I don't want to!"

Yamamoto only laughed and pulled harder. Reaching the group of adults, he hailed them, grinning broadly. "Hi there! I'm Takeshi Yamamoto! And this is Hayato Go-"

"I can introduce myself, Baseball Idiot," Gokudera cut in crossly, before wrenching his hand out of the firm grasp. "Hayato Gokudera," he concluded, nodding curtly. Yamamoto laughed again, and the silver-haired boy unleashed a stream of angry Italian under his breath.

Naturally, Alfred laughed as well, and his blond companion yelled angrily, almost in parallel to the two kids. Sighing, the latter turned to said children. "You'll have to excuse Al (that idiot)," he told them apologetically. "He's a bit on the (stupidly) childish side. My name is Arthur, by the way. Arthur Kirkland."

As he, Alfred, and Yamamoto talked animatedly about sports, food, and anything that came to mind, the two Italians gravitated toward Gokudera (or rather, the auburn-haired one did, while his mahogany brother was dragged along reluctantly). _"Veh... you're Italian, right?"_ the first one asked in said language, a silly smile on his face.

His friendliness was met with a stare. _"Yeah... what of it?"_ the reply came out semi-harshly in the same language as he clicked the translator's power switch. Then a thought struck him. _"Wait, if these translators work like most do, then you shouldn't've been able to tell that I was speaking Italian, right? How does that work?"_ Immediately, his attitude changed as he became interested in the mechanics of the tic tac-sized wonder.

This time, it was the angry-looking brother who answered, or rather interrupted by pushing his brother out of the way. _"Can't tell you,"_ he growled, _"Seeing as I don't know myself. Kiku makes weird things at his house all the time. So you don't _need_ to turn that thing off to speak Italian; it just makes it easier. And Gokudera- that was your name, wasn't it?-, I'm Lovino Vargas. Remember it, 'cause I'm only telling you once."_

Recovering from his brief visit to the ground, the other one got up, as the single curl that poked out of the left side of his head bobbed with his nodding head. _"Veh~... I'm Feliciano! You can call me Feli though~."_ However, in it's up and down travel, the curl got caught in Lovino's (which was similar, albeit it came out almost in front of the right side of face, as opposed to out the left of the head). Calamity ensued.

"Stupid _fratello_!" Lovino screamed, grabbing his brother by the neck and shaking forcefully. "Look what you did, idiot!"

"B- Brother! That hurts! Don't do that! Gyaaaaaaaah!"

Sighing, Kiku came over and managed to get them to calm down for a minute while he untangled their hair. "Feliciano-san, Lovino-san," he said, the left corner of his mouth curving upward the smallest fraction. "You really must be more careful; we don't want to cause too much trouble to our guests."

"Veh~ Sorry, Kiku," Feli answered dejectedly, staring at the ground. "We'll try harder."

"Um... Sorry to interrupt, but has anyone seen Hibari-san? He went missing a few minutes ago." The group turned, to see Tsuna shuffling his feet awkwardly, slightly embarrassed to be asking such a thing._ Where Hibari-san is?_ he thought, _It's where ever he wants to be; why would they know?_

"You called?"

Tsuna jumped nearly a foot in shock as the older boy suddenly appeared behind him. "Hiiiiie!"

Back straight and arms crossed, Hibari stood there and scoffed. "Herbivore."

Kiku smiled, and cut in before any extra violence could occur. "Ah, Hibari-san, you're here," he said. "There's a grass patch and a grove of trees; which battlefield would you prefer?"

"I'm always where ever I feel like being," Hibari said, in response to the first statement. "And either one is fine."

"Well, let's go with the trees then. Alfred-san, would you mind leading?"

Al lead the mismatched group along a small dirt path, into the heart of a veritable forest of trees just as mismatched as they were. All manner of species grew sporadically, as shown by Alfred's explanation. "Obviously, there's a lot of different trees here," he said, grinning. "They grow in patches, so there's variety, but they're not all mixed up. For now you guys can fight in the bamboo grove, since there's a lot of saplings growing in the other places right now and I don't want to mess those up."

Kiku nodded, assuring Alfred that they would stay in the bamboo. Hibari stood stoically, tonfas in hand and a glint in his eye that suggested a touch of battlelust. Well, perhaps more than a touch. Probably closer to an ocean compressed into a bottle.

Taking his battle stance, both arms in front, left above the right, Kiku did the same, both hands holding the worn katana on his left side.

But right when Hibari was about to charge in, a small yellow puffball whizzed by, closely followed by a blue-garbed albino-esque figure. "Wait, Gilbird!" the figure called, panting. "Where are you going!"

His running was quickly halted by a rapidly spinning metal object smacking him square in the back of the head. The man went down, and the tonfa landed neatly back in Hibari's hand. "Don't interrupt me, herbivore," he said calmly.

The yellow puffball, which turned out to be a bird, changed course and zeroed in on Hibari, proceeding to land neatly on his head and nestle in. The albino came up as well, and, leaning his hands on his knees to catch his breath, glared at the teenager in front of him as a sizeable lump was visibly swelling on the back of his head. "Hibari! Hibari!" the bird called shrilly, flapping lightly.

At that, a notion dawned on the mysterious newcomer. "Wait... that's not Gilbird!" he cried despairingly, obviously now distraught. As if to reiterate the fact, the bird began to sing happily in that same squeaky voice. _"Midori tanabiku, Namimori no! Dai naku, shou naku, Nami ga ii!"_

Neatly, Hibari switched the tonfa in his right hand so that both were held in his left. Then, so gently it seemed unnatural, he lifted the yellow bird off of his head and held it in front of his face. "So that's where you were," he said.

Suddenly, those cold gray eyes were directed towards the panicking albino in front of him. "For trying to steal Hibird," he growled. "I'll bite you to death."

Realizing that he had just been issued a challenge, the albino drew himself up and stared down at the black-haired boy in front of him. Red eyes held steel-gray. There was a moment of silence, and then...

"Whoa, Japan, were you really this short? And what happened to your katana?"

For the briefest moment, he was met with a confused stare, then his vision was blocked with a tonfa to the face. The albino fell to the ground, and was about to get up when he was kicked in the head. Then again for effect. And a third time just for the fun of it.

He was about to be on the receiving end of a fourth kick, when Kiku intervened. Stepping between the two, he shook the albino by the shoulder and willed the quickly blackening eyes to open. They cracked open, followed by a smile. "Oh, it's you," the blue-garbed man said, attempting a laugh, which came out in more of a choking sound. "If you're you, then who's that kid?"

Kiku sighed. "A guest, Gilbert-san," he said, emphasizing the name, and proceeding to give him a look akin to the one that he had given Alfred earlier.

"Oh. Well, tell him that kicking people in the face isn't awesome at all."

"Or you can tell me yourself, herbivore," Hibari said bluntly, collapsing his tonfas back where they had been and folding his arms, Hibird once again perched upon his head.

"Fine. Kid, kicking people in the face isn't awesome at all. Especially someone as awesome as Gilbert Beilschmidt!"

Getting up, he was met with an angry glare. "I have a name, Beilschmidt," he said forcefully. "Kyouya Hibari."

"Well you're still a brat."

Right at that moment, Feli and Lovi appeared, and attempted to drag Gilbert away before he could cause any extra trouble (to Hibari, which would in turn mean trouble for everyone else), all the while saying something about wursts, beer, and someone named Ludwig (or "potato freak," as Lovino insisted upon calling the mystery man).

Hibari turned to Kiku, hands down by his sides and covered by the loose jacket. "Did he call you 'Japan?'" he questioned skeptically. "Because the last time I checked, Japan was a country and a nation, not a person."


	3. Adult Supervision Needed

_I apologize for how incredibly late I was, and hope you'll all forgive me. (´-` ``) Had a hard time deciding what to put in this chapter. It's very short, btw, so I'll probably update it later. If I don't, however, please don't kill me._

_Hopefully, it'll be smooth sailing from here... orz_

_By the way, a list of all the characters introduced so far (and mentioned but they're not right there):_

_Katekyo Hitman Reborn!: Tsunayoshi Sawada, Kyouya Hibari, Takeshi Yamamoto, Hayato Gokudera, Reborn, (Fuuta, Lambo, I-Pin)_

_Hetalia- Axis Powers: Kiku Honda (Japan), Alfred F. Jones (America), Arthur Kirkland (UK), Matthew Williams (Canada), Feliciano and Lovino Vargas (Veneziano and Romano di Italia), Yao Wang (China), Gilbert Beilschmidt (Prussia), (Ludwig (Germany))_

* * *

"Did he call you 'Japan?' Because the last time I checked, Japan was a country and a nation, not a person."

For the first time, Kiku's voice faltered, if only for the smallest, nearly undetectable moment. "Nickname; it's a nickname," he said bluntly, as opposed to his usual attitude on the subject of grammatical accuracy. Hibari huffed, and was about to take his stance again, when Kiku gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, Hibari-kun," the older one said, remorse evident in his voice. "Gilbert-san reminded me that I absolutely _must_ check something. Can we postpone our spar until later?"

Obviously disappointed, Hibari grunted in displeasure. "Fine, but I'm really going to expe- Hey, wait, don't add a kun to my name!" he shouted. But Kiku had already melted away into the bamboo stalks.

_-sometime later-_

Having successfully made his escape from the maze of bamboo (albeit by smashing his way through several barricades of fallen stalks and having Hibird scout the way to the others at one point [not that he'd admit the latter]), Hibari finally managed to find his way to the other kids.

Naturally, the first one who reacted was Tsuna. "Hibari-san!" he greeted the older student cheerfully. "Kiku ran out saying he had to do something, so we were worried about what happened to you."

"Actually, you were the only one," said a small figure, as it kicked Tsuna in the head. Sitting up, the brunet shouted, slightly angry. "Reborn!" he shouted at the suit-clad infant "What was that for!"

"I don't need your concern anyway," Hibari butted in, then looked around. "And where'd the rest of those guys go, anyway?"

"Those guys?" Yamamoto asked, confused. Then, realization dawned on him, and he laughed. "Oh, _those_ guys! When Kiku left, they said that they should go with him. Oh, and... uh... Gokudera, which one was it? The one that sai-"

"The Chinese guy with the ponytail. Yao Wang," Gokudera cut in sharply. "He said that we were free to either wander around or go back in, as long as we didn't open any doors that were closed."

"I'm going for a walk," Hibari said briskly, proceeding to leave without anyone's consent. After all, he was Kyouya Hibari. He didn't need anyone's permission for anything.

"Um... okay..." Tsuna said, knowing that the other wouldn't hear him. Then, he turned to his other companions. "So... what do we do?"

"It's your decision, Tenth," Gokudera replied cheerfully. "Since the stupid cow and the other two went off to play hide-and-seek or something inside, we're free."

_Of course it is_, Tsuna inwardly sighed. _It's always my decision._ Externally, however, he made his trademark innocent smile and pointed towards the building. "That brings our total count to... ten. Sorry, I hadn't been able to count earlier. But I suppose we should go in, then."

The others trailed after their friend, heading in through the double doors. Only one stopped: Gokudera. Standing in front of the doors, he looked up and around.

"But... Who exactly are these guys... to have a place this big and hardly anyone in it?"


	4. Hungry

_I would like to apologize for the long wait; I began this as a continuation of Chapter Three, but it began to get so long that it was difficult to work with. On the other hand, progress is slow for now, because I have the plot for the next few chapters worked out, but need to get to a place where I can start that._

_Again, I apologize for the wait, and do hope you may bear with me._

* * *

"Hey, Reborn," Tsuna said, walking down the wide hallway. "We can't let them know, right?"

"Of course not, Dame-Tsuna," the infant scoffed, hopping onto Tsuna's shoulder. "And you're doing a so-so job of looking like you don't know anything."

The one in question gave a confused look. "I... am?" he asked uncertainly, but swiftly changed to an expression of terror as he found himself facing the barrel of a green gun. "Hiiiie! I- I'll do better, Reborn! I promise!"

When the barrel was no longer pointed between his eyes, Tsuna sighed in relief. _Why does it always have to be like this?_ he moaned to himself. Then, he noticed the tip of a striped scarf poking out from behind a potted plant. "Fuuta?" he asked curiously. "What are you doing there?"

A small head of mousey light-brown hair poked out cautiously, then made a shushing motion. "Tsuna-Nii!" he whispered, "We're playing hide-and-seek. Pretend like you don't see me!" Quickly, the head disappeared behind the shrub again, accompanied by Tsuna's still-confused look.

Almost immediately, a small body latched itself onto Tsuna's leg. "Hey, Tsuna!" the afro-haired infant yelled. "I heard Fuuta! Where is he? 'Cuz Lambo-san will find him without you, but this'll be faster!"

The boy in question immediately pointed towards a side-hallway that was between them and the supposedly-uninhabited potted plant. "H- He was over there, Lambo!" he loudly whispered in an urgent tone. "Go quickly or he'll run!"

Lambo took off like a rocket down the hallway, and Tsuna and Reborn sighed and kept walking. Walking past the plant, Fuuta smiled at his older brother figure. "Thanks, Tsuna-nii!" he said. "By the way, if you see I-Pin, can you remind her that using that wallpaper trick is cheating?"

The older boy gave a thumbs-up, and kept walking. Once a sufficient distance away from his friend, he ventured to ask a question. "Reborn," he began, keeping his eyes forward while talking to the infant on his shoulder. "Do you... have any idea who exactly Kiku and the others are?"

Reborn smirked, fedora casting a shadow over his eyes. "No, I don't," he said ambiguously. "But is your Hyper Intuition picking anything up about them?"

Tsuna visibly sweatdropped, as another thought crossed his mind. _Of course, ask a simple question, get a complicated answer and a question._ Before Reborn could slap Tsuna for such musings, he quickly shook his head to get rid of the thought. "W- well... kind of," he attempted to explain. "Um... they're hiding something, that's about all I can get. It's not... really a _hostile_ feeling, like with Mukuro, but more... anxious... is that the word?"

Swiftly, he was slapped, and a large red bump began forming on his cheek. "Reborn! What was that for!" he shouted, now on the floor.

"How am I supposed to know what word you're searching for?" the infant smiled. He waited for the grumbling Tsuna to get back on his feet before jumping back onto the boy's shoulder. "Well, I suppose we can't expect too much from your Hyper Intuition; it's still a new skill."

"Yeah, you shouldn't expect too much from me in the first pla- mmph!" The brunet suddenly found his face covered by a light, paper-like cloth that had floated off the ceiling. Tugging it away, he looked up, to find... I-Pin.

I-Pin with nine dots on her forehead.

Drat.

The miniscule girl floated off the ceiling much like her cover, and swiftly clamped onto Tsuna's arm. As the boy attempted to open a window, any window, and pry the Chinese girl off of him at the same time, Reborn chucked nonchalantly. "Hibari walked by, didn't he?"

Ignoring his tiny home tutor, Tsuna finally succeeded in both tasks, and threw the girl out the window. Collapsing against the wall in relief, a bright light and a booming noise suddenly filled the area. "Safe," Tsuna sighed.

Honestly, it was hard work taking care of everything that was thrown at him. Which was pretty much everything from cheering people up to getting bombs out of his room without blowing anything else up to keeping Hibari from killing them all. Oh, and not to mention failing to avoid bullets, dying, reviving, then proceeding to run around with a scary look on his face in boxers for five minutes. Hopefully they wouldn't need to use that newer bullet anytime soon, 'cause that thing _hurt_.

~o~o~o~

As the duo continued walking down the hallway, the wide double doors that they were walking past suddenly swung open, and all the missing adults walked out, talking nonchalantly.

Of course, that scared poor Tsuna to no end, who immediately squeaked in surprise and promptly fell over. Lifting his head, he took the pale hand that was proffered to him, which turned out to belong to Alfred. The blond smiled widely, Helping Tsuna up. "You okay?" he asked, blue eyes sparkling. "By the way, are you hungry or anything? It's been a few hours since you guys got here."

Tsuna blinked in surprise. "Eh? Hungry?" he asked, brain not quite processing the question. However, his stomach answered for him, gurgling impatiently. "Uh... uh... apparently," the boy stammered.

Alfred laughed. "Well, come on, I'll lead you to the kitchen, then we'll call your friends."

Inwardly, the shorter one paled. Most of them were friends, but Hibari...? He tried not to think about what would happen if the raven had heard that sentence.

"I'd appreciate if if you wouldn't group me with those herbivores," a voice cut in. Speak of the devil; quite literally. Tsuna stared at the raven, knees shaking slightly. "H- Hibari-san!" he managed to stutter. "D- Did you come in through the window again?"

Alfred made the face of one who didn't understand what was going on, but didn't really care. "The window?" he asked cheerfully. "This is the second floor though."

Ignoring the question, Tsuna tugged on Alfred's shirt sleeve. "Um.. yeah. But w- we should probably get going!"

"Oh right! Yo, Kyouya, you can come too, if you're hungry."

Hibari growled at that. "Don't call me by my first name."

Alfred laughed again. "Okay, Hibari!" he said nonchalantly. "But this is my place, where everyone's on first-name terms, so it's just what I'm used to, y'know?"

Arthur hissed at the taller man angrily. "You _idiot!_" he seethed, glaring. "Not everyone lives in America!"

Before any further arguments could be born, Tsuna cut in again. "S- So this is America?" he asked tentatively. Alfred nearly laughed and nodded in agreement, before strolling down the hallway. To Tsuna's surprise, Hibari followed the remaining group at a distance after everyone except Tsuna, Alfred, and Kiku had peeled away to attend their own business.

Sighing, Hibari made a swift comment. "Tsunayoshi Sawada," he barked impassively, "Stop trying to sneak glances back at me from the corners of your eyes. What do you want?"

Reddening at the realization that he had been found out, Tsuna turned and walked next to Hibari instead of ahead of him. "S- Sorry, Hibari-san," he apologized. "B- But I kinda found it funny that you were coming along, and well..."

Glancing down at the brunet, Hibari closed his eyes momentarily and sighed again. "Is it really that bad for me to be hungry?" he asked, more in exasperation than actual curiosity.


	5. Just a Bonus

Upon reaching the kitchen, Alfred swung the half-open door ajar. To be met with Gokudera glaring hotly at Yamamoto, who was on the other side of a long table. But only for a moment, because as soon as the former caught sight of Tsuna, he stood up straight and gave the brunet a strained smile. "Hello, Tenth!" he called, in a badly attempted cheerful voice. "I was just... _reminding_ the Baseball Idiot that we should be more respectful of the house rules."

Yamamoto just laughed his usual laugh, and took another bite out of the quickly shrinking health bar that was in his hand. "Don't listen to Gokudera, Tsuna," he contradicted, happy as ever. "The door was partially open. Which is open. And he won't listen to me when I say that this was in my pocket."

Unsure of what to do, Tsuna stood dumbstruck for a moment, vaguely wondering how Gokudera managed to control himself enough to not blast Yamamoto to bits. However, Alfred cut in for him, relieving the young kid of the responsibility of answering. "You guys were hungry too?" he laughed, as usual being unable to read the atmosphere. "You guys are glaring at each other so much; you're such good friends that you argue a lot, huh?"

Tearing his eyes away from the unusual scene, Tsuna turned to look at Hibari again. "Um... Hibari-san?" he asked tentatively. "Aren't... aren't you going to do something about how loud it is?"

In reply, her received a huff and a quick glance. "It's not worth biting them to death if they're like that."

As a confused look crossed the junior's face, he was suddenly tugged into the room by the arm, courtesy of Alfred. "C'mon, you were hungry, weren't you?" he said cheerfully. He pointed to a the wall, where numerous pantries, cupboards, and a large (very, very large) refrigerator, and other things that you would usually find in a kitchen were displayed neatly (albeit with a few stains here and there, and a trashcan partially full of various plastic wrappings). "Help yourselves to anything that looks good," the blond said, walking over to a panel on the near wall. "But watch out for Tony; he likes to steal food."

Tsuna opened his mouth to ask, "Tony? Who's that?" but only managed to get the first syllable out of his mouth before loud swearing in broken English, accompanied by delighted shouting from Gokudera was heard. Whipping his head around so fast that it almost hurt, Tsuna was faced by said teenager, behind the counter, holding a struggling... alien? An angrily struggling silver-colored... thing with red bug eyes.

"I knew it!" the silver-haired teen shouted, emerald-green eyes wide and bright as stars. "Aliens are out there!"

Alfred, on the other hand, made his derp face again. "Aliens?" he said, "Yeah, that's what I told my boss but he won't believe me. And Tony's not an Alien, he's my friend!"

This was met with a startled "Eh?" from Gokudera, which quickly turned into a yelp of pain as Tony kicked his knee. Letting go in surprise, the alien swiftly grabbed... some kind of disgusting-looking yellowish substance... off the counter on a plate before running out of the room, cursing loudly.

Now looking slightly pale in a different way, Tsuna turned to Alfred. "Um... Alfred..." he said nervously. "What was... Tony... eating...?"

Hand hovering over the buttons on the mysterious panel, Alfred laughed. "One of my favorites!" he exclaimed loudly. "Twinkie sandwich!"

Pulling a face, Kiku sneakily switched his translator off and answered to Tsuna's confused face in rapid Japanese. _"I still believe he should stop eating those,"_ he said in an exasperated tone. _"What his 'Twinkie Sandwich' is... it's a Twinkie (which is like a Tokyo Banana with processed sponge cake and cream in the center), covered in Cheez Whiz (which is processed cheese in a spray can), between two microwaved chocolate chip waffles. If possible, don't even look at it; the smell alone can be enough to drive you crazy."_

Looking over curiously, Alfred made another comment. "Whoa, Kiku," he said. "Your translator bugged again. What were you saying? Oh, and Tsuna, you look kinda green. You okay there?"

Smiling, Kiku turned the machine back on. "Sorry, Alfred-san," he lied, "I should really fix that problem. I was just telling Tsuna-kun that there are cooking utensils in the cupboards if they needed them."

_Blatant lying!_ Tsuna screamed inwardly. _Kiku's just like onii-san!_

Of course, Alfred only gave a smile, and an energetic (if not completely oblivious) "Yeah you should! Help yourselves!" before turning back to the wall panel. Pressing a few buttons, he spoke into the small microphone. "Hey everybody!" he exclaimed, far louder than necessary. "Food's being served (or rather, just help yourselves) in the kitchen on the second floor, so just find a staircase, get to the second floor, and there should be a map somewhere on a nearby wall! Hurry up, 'cause there's already a bunch of people here!"

Kiku turned to Alfred, smiling. "Since we will probably need more... ah... _healthy_ food for dinner, do you mind if I step out to go buy some groceries later?" he asked, obviously not really looking for an answer. The blond accompanied him out of the room chattering merrily, as a few more heads suddenly appeared at the door, all looking hungry. The kids were being left to their own devices.

Pulling a cookbook out of a strangely small (Alfred probably wasn't much of a reader) bookshelf on the far wall, Tsuna made for the counter, where Yamamoto and Gokudera were sifting through the contents of the refrigerator, squabbling among each other (at least on Gokudera's side, they were).

"There's eggs and tomatoes and rice and stuff, so we could make omelette-rice?"

"There isn't enough rice, Baseball Idiot!"

"Ahahaha, you're right! Well... we could use the eggs and just make omelettes!"

"Only omelettes is stupid!"

"Omlettes with salad or something, then?"

"Hey, hey," Tsuna interjected. "Calm down, both of you. Fuuta, Lambo and I-Pin can't use the stoves and stuff, so that's an obvious no, and Hibari-san just won't, and I could burn a salad, so I'm going to leave the cooking to you guys; is that alright?"

Giving a broad grin, Gokudera immediately saluted his beloved boss. "It's perfectly fine, Tenth!" he said cheerfully. "Just leave it to me; Baseball Idiot here will just make things worse."

Motioning his thanks, the brunet sighed audibly and went to go entertain the three younger charges (at their insistent urging, coupled with Reborn's usual speech about the responsibilities of a boss). _I wonder where Onii-san and Kyoko-chan went,_ he thought, engaging his smaller friends in a game of Kagome, Kagome. _They've been surprisingly quiet. Or rather, Onii-san has._

_Kagome, Kagome,_

_Kago no naka no tori wa,_

_Itsu, Itsu, deyaru? Yoake no ban ni,_

_Tsuru to kame ga subetta,_

_Ushiro no shoumen dareda?_

After several rounds, in which Tsuna repeatedly made it easy whenever he was behind, or pretended to have a great deal of trouble when he was in the middle, Yamamoto cheerfully called over that they were done cooking. Fuuta, Lambo and I-Pin cheered delightedly, rushing over to claim their seats. Yamamoto, smiling as usual, slid a steaming plate of omelette with a small amount of rice and vegetables on the side in front of them, topped with a cup of milk each.

Gokudera set down larger portions for the other five of them, smiling to Tsuna (who smiled back and thanked him), and scowling at Hibari and Yamamoto (the former remained emotionless, while the latter merely laughed and accepted the plate graciously). A chorus of "_Itadakimasu!_" was heard, as everyone (excluding Hibari) dug in hungrily. While Tsuna and Yamamoto continued entertaining the younger element, and cleaning up the messes they would unintentionally make too, Gokudera ate in stony silence, as Hibari seemingly made his entire contents of his plate vanish in an instant, aside from the vegetables, while nobody was looking. Carrying the dishes to the stainless steel sink, he set them down gently, then proceeded to sit down in a corner of the room. He had some thinking to do, and watching to make sure the herbivores didn't do something stupid that would stain the reputation of Namimori's student body was just an added bonus.


	6. On The Way

"_He's using a translator, just like the rest of us."_

"_Wait... that's not Gilbird!"_

"_Whoa, Japan, were you really this short? And what happened to your katana?"_

"_Nickname; it's a nickname,"_

"_But... Who exactly are these guys... to have a place this big and hardly anyone in it?"_

"_S- So this is America?"_

"_Yeah, that's what I told my boss but he won't believe me."_

Dialogue from throughout the day ran in and out of Hibari's head as he sat against the wall, half-watching the herbivores play. Nothing made sense. If they needed translators, they obviously did not speak a common language, at least not fluently enough to easily understand eachother. Why and how would people who couldn't speak a common language know each other, much less share such strong friendships? What exactly was this "Gilbird" that apparently looked almost exactly like Hibird? He and Kiku looked somewhat alike, there was no doubt about it, but what was the point in calling each other country names as nicknames? The Bomb herbivore was right; it was odd to have such an immense dwelling with so few people. Not only that, it seemed that only Alfred actually _lived_ there. And apparently this was America; how did they end up here? Who exactly was Alfred's boss?

Not understanding made the prefect frustrated; it was unusual that he could not comprehend something, and when it did, it caught his interest until he figured it out. Pushing the confused thoughts to a corner of his mind, he propped his knees up and leaned forward on them. He watched as the smaller three played excitedly with Tsunayoshi Sawada and each other.

Suddenly, the door reopened, revealing Ryohei and Kyoko Sasagawa, lead by Kiku. "I'm sorry for the confusion," the oldest apologized. "I should have realized that not all of you were here."

"I am _extremely_ hungry!" the older boy shouted, shaking the rafters (not to mention scaring the short man quite a bit). "Where's the _extreme_ food?"

"Shut up and sit down before you scare him, you stupid athlete," Gokudera growled, very nearly throwing two more plates of food onto the table. "Hurry up or it'll get cold."

"Thank you, Gokudera-kun!" Kyoko giggled, sitting down and picking up the fork that had been laid down. "I'm sure it's very good."

Regaining his composture, Kiku smiled at the younger folk. "I'm happy to see that you are all having fun," he said, "I hope you all do not mind if I go buy groceries for a while and leave you all alone."

"We can all _extremely _handle ourselves!" Ryohei attempted to shout around a mouthfull of egg. "So you can _extremely _relax and go-"

"I'm going with you."

Tsuna's head whipped around so quickly that he could almost swear that he heard a distinct _crack_. "H- Hibari-san!" he squeaked, surprised at the now standing (albiet leaning against a wall) prefect.

"What?" said prefect snapped, glaring at the trembling brunette. "I want to look around; I've already explored this place."

A kick to the forehead sent Tsuna to the ground. "Ow..." he grumbled.

"You're going with him, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn smirked, treading mercilessly on his student. "A boss must take responsibility and watch out for his men."

"I don't need that herbivore following me," Hibari growled. "But if the infant's coming, I suppose I can't say anything."

"Tenth! I'll go too!" Gokudera shouted, slamming his hand down onto the table, so hard that the leftover plates scattered about rattled. "As your right-hand man, I must go where ever you lead! (and that guy will just make everything a mess.)"

"Haha, if you two're going, I might as well, too!" Yamamoto laughed.

"As expected," Reborn said, tapping his foot, still standing on top of the helpless student. "You two are staying here; Tsuna needs someone to take care of the stupid cow and the other two."

"If the Tenth so desires!" Gokudera shouted again, saluting quickly, before attempting to amuse the younger kids without blowing something up (in particular, his brain).

Kiku still stood at the door, with a distinct "_what?_"expression plastered onto his face. "Um... I'm glad you want to come," he said half-heartedly, still looking confused at the odd conversation. "I- I was planning to leave right now, if that's alright with you two..."

"Three," Reborn butted in cheerfully, at last allowing Tsuna to stand up. "I'm coming too."

"Eh...? Ah... sure...?" Kiku asked more than said, now thoroughly confused. "By the way, I don't think I got your name."

"Reborn. Nice to meet you."

For a split-second, the look of one who had finally come close to understanding something flashed across Kiku's eyes, but it was quickly forgotten as Hibari very nearly floated silently out the door past the started older man. "We were leaving, were we not?" he asked, turning and stopping after his exit.

"Oh, yes. Sorry, Hibari-kun," the one in question smiled, then waved to those left in the kitchen. "I will see you all later, then; feel free to explore."

~o-O-o~

Kiku was messing with his collar again. Only this time it was the collar of the jacket that he had slipped on on the way out. He seemed relaxed, but a tad nervous, if that made any sense, as if expecting that at any moment, he'd mess up royally. An empty bag was slung around his shoulders, thumping against his back in time to his steps.

"_It's really cold and foggy here,_" Tsuna commented in Japanese (for the sake of not looking like an idiot), looking up at the starch-white sky. "_Is it close to winter?_"

Kiku smiled and slowed down to walk next to the three younger ones. "_No,_" he answered kindly, smiling quietly while his eyes remained dead. "_We're close to San Francisco, California. Al-san calls it Fog City because of the weather; usually foggy or cloudy and cool, especially in the summer. Otherwise, it typically is raining._" He paused a bit, looking again at a notepad that he had listed several items upon. "_Very different from Japan,_" he added as an afterthought. "_Although it's nice to be cool like this in the summer, sometimes."_

Tsuna sneezed, clutching his T-shirt tighter around him. "_I'd rather melt,_" he mumbled, following Kiku into a relatively small store.

* * *

_This is a very short chapter, and I apologize. I suppose it's my fault for being away for a week. Although that was out of my control. I shall keep writing, however, so please do not lose interest; I'm working as hard as I can while still juggling how busy my life is._

_San Francisco is a rather famous landmark located in California, USA. I still think it should be the capital more than Sacramento; more things actually _happen_ there. But oh well, nothing can be done. It's a rather nice place, if you ignore the smog and the creepy people who hang around the streets._


	7. Apologia

_I'm really very sorry. And I know that this is a very late time to say this, but... I have to give up._

_It's been two years (I think) since I last updated, maybe a year and a half. I did try to revive this story, but it simply couldn't be done. I hope you'll listen to my explanation._

_It's not that I lost interest in the story (okay, yes I did, at least initially, but that was easily overridden), it's not that I lost files or anything. It's that my writing style changed drastically at some point, and when I went back to try and work on the last half-chapter I had, nothing could be done. I couldn't go back to the way I had written it, and the storyline seemed flat and unfamiliar to me. It was so different that I had felt like it wasn't my story, as though someone else had written it._

_Just for update's sake, I left in everything that I had written, unedited and raw, just the way I had written it. Nothing there has been altered. So I hope that you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me._

_Truthfully, I'm having a hard time forgiving myself. I'm sure you can tell that it took me a very long time to finally accept that I simply had to abandon this story; I like to always try to finish things, and I'm not very good at accepting inconvenient truths. Even if I feel guilty, I hope you'll feel generous and kind._

* * *

"_Wow, the streets are so wide!"_

Tsuna looked around in wonder at the crosswalk as the four waited for the pedestrian light to change. _"And the cars are so big!"_

Kiku smiled a bit at the middle-schooler's expression. _"Yes, America is a rather… larger-than-life place, I must say. As Arthur-san says against it, 'it's not like everything gets better if you add a mega to it.'"_

Tsuna laughed good-naturedly, and Reborn, seated on his shoulder, smiled. Hibari, behind them, frowned. Wide spaces aside, the whole place reeked of car exhaust. And half the people they passed seemed like they would be offering some kind of ad. Odd Americans, handing out individual sheets of paper. Why not print the ads on something useful that people would want? (That aside, it amused him that every ad-giver shrunk backwards when the four of them passed.)

He spared a glance to the two herbivores up front. Well, two herbivores and the infant. _That_ herbivore seemed to be telling Kiku about what he was learning in school, while the latter was listening patiently and seemed to be consoling him a bit about how tests were usually set up. Wait…

He shook himself out of the thoughts as the other two (the infant wasn't walking) turned right down into a slightly below-ground store. Maybe it was just him, but Kiku seemed more at-ease in this cramped place than outside. Personally, he just felt the same irritation he always felt when more than 2 humans were within 5 feet of him. Yet he still followed the others, tailing them diligently and gathering information.

As they wandered around the store, Kiku made polite chatter with the two middle-schoolers. _"So, what grade are you two in?"_ he asked, sifting through a crate of carrots.

"_M- middle school first grade,"_ Tsuna promptly replied. _"And Hibari-san is… I don't know, actually."_

"_I have a question,"_ Reborn interrupted. _"Kiku, Lovino and Feliciano mentioned that you made these translators. Why is it that when I'm listening to you two speak, I still hear all the honorifics?"_

"_Oh, that,"_ Kiku replied, going through another box, this time of green onions. _"Is Japanese not your native language? The computer doesn't know how to translate certain words. Honorifics in Japanese, Korea's talks about han, and the Portuguese saudade are examples."_

"_Korea's?_" the other three chorused.

Kiku blinked and then bowed slightly. _"I'm very sorry, did I say Korea's? I meant Koreans'."_ The three children gave him a strange look, and he began making his way towards the entrance. _"Well, I think that's all I need,"_ he said, _"…Unless you three would like anything; I'd be glad to pay."_

"_No, that's alright,"_ Reborn said, then paused. _"Actually, does Alfred's house have an espresso __maker?"_

"_I believe it does,_" their guide answered, placing his items on the belt, before turning to the cashier. "How much is this?"

The cashier, a boy who looked to be around high-school age with glasses, braces, and a shock of black hair grinned lopsidedly. _"$22.30, Honda-san,"_ he answered in Japanese. _"It's nice to see you for the first time in a while. Guests?"_

"_Something like that,"_ Kiku replied, handing over two bills. _"Keep the change; you need it, don't you?"_

"Thank you sir!" the teen called as the group of four left.

As they headed back towards the mansion, Tsuna tapped Kiku's shoulder. "Who was that?" he asked, having clicked the translator back on.

"That's a local student here, Akira Tanaka. Alfred introduced us to each other a few years ago, because Tanaka-kun was aspiring to become a linguist and was already nearly fluent after a year and a half of taking Japanese. He's applying for college, I believe."

"But he has a Japanese name," Tsuna said curiously. "He doesn't speak the language?"

Kiku shook his head. "No, he has a Japanese father and an American mother; they didn't speak Japanese around the house. Hmm, there was another promising learner, a girl named… Nagisa Wheelwright, if I recall. There are many others introduced to different languages as well. Oh, left here; Tsunayoshi-kun, you're going the wrong way."

…


End file.
